Sunday, February 24, 2019

My Frugal Ways this Past Week 2/24/19!

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So far this morning in the bomb cyclone event, all we have received is rain.  I guess the higher wind will come this afternoon.  We are all prepared with flash lights, wood, and gas for the generator if need be.  I hope it just might all blow over.  😅

Here are the ways we saved this past week:

We went to two estate sales this weekend and spent around $40.00.  We bought two brand new towels (they were still stuck together)  for $1.00 a piece.  These were not the large kind just a regular bath towel.  We also bought tools, winter boots, flashlights, florescent lights for the garage,  a set of 4 phones (landline),  wet mop and dry mop pads, old fashioned army men for the grandson (I hope he likes them), men's hat,  denim jacket, lots of spray cans that went to the garage (stuff like rainex), a bunny for christmas, basket,  light bulbs, and many things that I can't even remember!  

We filled up with gas in one town we visited  for $1.99 a gallon (.40 cents less a gallon than anywhere else).   We filled up one of our gas cans too while we were at it. 

We installed a new toilet ourselves, saving the cost of installation. We bought this on sale awhile ago and waited till winter time boredom hit to put it in.   I made dinner everyday except this day! Really though even with the cost of Burger King, we saved a lot of money.  

We actually got a letter from our utility company stating that we have been great at saving on our electricity.  We are in the normal range now.  So all our efforts are paying off.  The very next day we got a letter though stating we will be automatically enrolled in the cost saver program in the summer.  No choice anymore.   You save money on your bill by using most of your electricity in the early morning or late evening.   This will be interesting but I'm already planning on how to adjust on our part.  

I made Elderberry syrup.  

Bought a $5.00 Barnes and Noble gift card with my swag bucks.  I now have two and would like two more before the grand kids spring break.  This will be something for us to do one day while they are here.

I also bought a $10 Walmart card for $5.00 with my rewards at AARP.   It was a daily deal.

I finished stenciling the pantry.   I'm in love with the end result!  My review will be this week!  

My goals for this week:

We had the flu make it's rounds this week so I didn't get as much accomplished.   I still need to winter sow the last of the jugs.  

Start sewing the princess dress for granddaughter (Elisa).  She says she needs it now.  She went with me to the fabric store and we picked out the dress in the pattern book.  She was so excited.   

What are the ways you've saved this past week?

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15 comments:

Cheryl Kimbley said...

It is so very, very windy here. No rain to speak of - just crazy wind. Kind of scary.
I wish we had estate sales around in the winter. For some reason there are none. I love going. You did great.
I hope everyone is feeling better.
Take care and stay safe.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Oh no you too. Be safe! The wind has picked up now and it's living up to it's promise.
We love estate sales in the winter and garage sales in the summer. Seems like estate sales are a little higher. Have a great day!

Jenny said...

You did a great job this week!

I hope the winds aren't as bad as they expect. We had 50 mph winds yesterday & it was bad enough that I was afraid to walk in the woods.

I did the usual savings this week...nothing extra. I won't take the time to list them.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Sometimes the savings are the same that's true Jenny. Your still doing great. The winds just keep getting stronger now. Still have power so we are good. We had a flicker and we seen a Energy truck with in 10 minutes! That gives me hope.
I won't venture out either...so we are saving money with the wind storm!

Anonymous said...

Vickie thinking of you in the high winds and hope the main high winds miss you and everything in the home is intact at the end of it.

You did great on the estate sales :) , and it must have been a week of going to sales as we went to a secret don't know if you ask "collectors" sale too and did well too.

Our Vicky challenge added up to $447.37 in savings last week :).

Finances -

- I found a $190 transaction on my bank account that we didn't make and reported it to the bank, it is coming up as miscellaneous debit ?. The bank is waiting for 10 days and then refunding us this amount but the local bank have escalated it to the fraud team so hopefully the money will be returned earlier than that to our account. Note to everyone check your bank accounts for nefarious transactions regularly.
- On eBay I let them know about a glitch where they are charging us for free listings and they refunded me the listing fees charged.
- We paid an extra fortnightly payment and a bit off our mortgage and have decided to pay off the standard mortgage payment and monthly interest at the beginning of each month to save money and time on the home mortgage.
- I listed 7 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $11.55 on usual listing fees. I know I listed lots more than this but lost count during the week :).

Earnings -

- I earned around $18 from the sale of saved pumpkin seeds and a handmade A6 notebook journal cover in my eBay store.

Purchases -

- We asked at our local post office about a local property that looked like a wrecking yard and found it was a "collectors" home and all the items were for sale. Upon hearing this and knowing we were in need of a few gardening handtools and galvanised pipe joiners that we would have a look. We purchased 2 really old road pick heads, a rake head, a trench shovel with handle, a post hole crow bar and 14 galvanised pipe connectors for $60 saving us $404.98 less the cost of handles over buying them in our local hardware stores new. Can you believe they now sell unbendable garden tools for $89.95 each ?, and the older ones never bent anyway because they were made with higher grade steel than the new ones. I could not justify this price and only paid $5 ea for the pick and garden fork heads, $10 for the trench shovel, $20 for the 14 galvanised pipe connectors (usually larger ones like we purchased are anywhere from $12 - $20 + each).
- Purchased 3.812kg of beef mince on clearance special at a little country supermarket for $5.42 per kg. I picked 4 of the largest packets I could find for $5 ea and saved $14.33 on our usual $9 kg prices here.
- Purchased all on specials 4 x packets of potato chips, 1 packet of twisties, 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 2 norsca deodorants saving $16.51 on usual prices. We added these to our grocery stockpile.

Organisation -

- Went through my sewing and craft room and listed a lot of items that were not listed. Still more to go but I am getting there slowly.

Water preservation -

- Used grey water from our washing machine and grey water tank to water fruit trees in the yard and ornamental flowering potted plants. Also used saved shower warm up water and dish rinsing water to water potted herbs and fruit trees with.

Hoping everyone else had a wonderful week :).

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

Little Penpen said...

The wind has been incredible, hasn't it? Do you think making the princess dress will be less expensive than buying one already made? I buy sparkly dance costumes from goodwill ($3.69) and throw them in with the play things at my house. The granddaughters love them.

Melissa Henderson said...

I have heard great things about elderberry syrup. My sister has used it for years. Hope you all are feeling better.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Yes it's so much cheaper to buy them used. I bought her one a couple of weeks ago at Salvation Army and she loved it.
This is going to be my first big sewing project in a long while. I always do short sewing projects because of time restraints. I'm kind of excited myself to see how I do. I hope I don't fail.

The wind tonight has been wild!

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Yes it does help and you reminded me to get another dose (I have a cold). Have a great night Melissa!

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

The wind has certainly picked up but no power outage yet. I have heard of some damage here and there though.
That's a great reminder for us to check our accounts Lorna (all of them). You just never know.
What a great sale you went to It's so nice to get the things you need at a great price. I've never heard it called a "collectors" home but I do like that term!
Great week Lorna!

Anonymous said...

Hi Vickie and glad there is no power outage or damage in your area or home and hope you feel better soon. I am sure your princess outfit for your grandaughter will turn out beautifully. As with all never before done sewing projects I take my time to make sure I get it right as I hate unpicking :).

The explanation of the "collectors" sale is that the elder gentleman who owns the property where the sale was has collected many items since he was about 15 years old and so did his father who recently passed. They have collected just about everything tool wise that you can imagine, some homewares, kitchen appliances and many vintage cars that he is doing up.

He now wants to sell the acreage he lives on, so to make a living he now sells all the items from his home for a job. I would say that although he is passionate about what he does it does border on hoarding with the amount of stuff he has. He does make a living out of it though so good on him.

Good to see he is now selling all the things he has collected because I am sure the council will eventually issue him with a clean up property order which would cost him a lot to rectify the general look of the property. If he doesn't do it himself the council then come in and clean and remove everything and charge the owners the cost.

I am happy with the reasonable prices he charges and to help him earn a living as it saves me buying things new at high prices.

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

You are so right about taking it slow Lorna on the sewing. I spent the day yesterday just cutting out all the pieces on the pattern.
I love that he is selling his stuff though. He must realize that he might as well make some money on it. You can't take it with you plus you are benefiting as well.
Have a great day!

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Little Penpen I got your message and accidentally deleted it! Oh man the things I do! I got you on my blog roll now so I'll keep up with you! Have a great day!

Little Penpen said...

I didn't know if you knew you were a no reply blogger or not.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I don't know either...I think I tried to fix that before but obviously it didn't work. I'll look into it. Thanks for letting me know.